The government has said its supervised toothbrushing programme will be rolled out to schools in the 鈥渕ost deprived鈥� areas of England, but has not named the areas that will take part. 拢11 million in funding will be available to councils from April, helping 鈥渉undreds of thousands of children aged between three and five years old to develop positive brushing habits鈥�. Funding will not be handed directly to schools to help with staffing costs, with leaders fearing an additional burden. But the government told Schools Week councils will have the option of helping schools with staffing issues. It will also fund training and equipment. The stated that councils will 鈥渄eploy supervised toothbrushing in schools and nurseries that voluntarily sign up鈥�. This would take place in “target areas”. Asked what the 鈥渢arget areas鈥� were, the DHSC said it would be up to councils to identify volunteer schools, but these would be in the 20 per cent most deprived neighbourhoods. The government has also announced it has agreed a deal with Colgate to donate more than 23 million toothbrushes and toothpastes to support the programme. Early education minister Stephen Morgan said the new government had “already started urgent work to increase the affordability and accessibility of high-quality early years and extend early learning support, but we know school-readiness goes beyond what is taught in a classroom. 鈥淏y supporting the youngest children with vital life and development skills, more teachers will be able to focus on what they do best 鈥� teach.鈥� Health minister Stephen Kinnock added: 鈥淚t is shocking that a third of five-year-olds in the most deprived areas have experience of tooth decay – something we know can have a lifelong impact on their health. 鈥淚t鈥檚 why we鈥檙e delivering supervised toothbrushing to young children and families who are most in need of support as part of our wider plans to revive the oral health of the nation.” ‘Stop loading expectations on schools’ Paul Whiteman But NAHT general secretary Paul Whiteman said we 鈥渃annot keep loading increasing expectations on schools鈥or can we keep looking to schools to fix all of society鈥檚 ills. 鈥淢ost people would see tooth brushing as a basic part of parenting, and we must be careful not to shift what is ultimately a parental responsibility onto the shoulders of schools.鈥� However, Jason Elsom, chief executive of Parentkind, said it was “important that we get the basics right for our children, and things like poor personal or oral hygiene can impact a child鈥檚 early years, and beyond. 鈥淏ut children all develop in different ways, and at a different pace, and so I commend this initiative to help every child understand the importance of oral hygiene at an early age.鈥� This story has been updated. The DHSC originally said funding would not be available for staffing, but then told us councils would be free to use it for that purpose.